Beverage packages or cartons particularly adapted for use with containers, e.g., cans, are very well known in the prior art for the marketing of beer, soft drinks or the like. The typical beverage carton packages a series of beverage cans in a matrix configuration, and is fabricated from paperboard. Often such cartons are sized to hold eight, twelve or even twenty-four beverage cans for purchase by the retail consumer at, e.g., grocery stores or specialty markets. Such paperboard cartons or beverage can packages have seen widespread commercial success in the marketplace.
The prior art beverage cartons often incorporate a dispenser system feature that allows the retail consumer to remove the beverage cans, one by one, from the carton. A number of different structural embodiments are known for this dispenser system feature. The basic dispenser system is defined by one or more of the carton's paperboard walls, and includes a flap tear out structure of some kind or another which opens the carton only partially so that one or more, but not all, of the cans may be removed in sequence as desired by the end user. Thus a carton with a dispenser that facilitates the removal of a single article from the carton at a time is desirable.
When the articles contained in the carton are cylindrical, and are disposed in the carton upon their sides (i.e., with the longitudinal axis of the cylinder being generally horizontal), such as cans, it is important that the articles be constrained such that the remaining articles do not roll out of the dispenser when one article is removed. Additionally, another important feature is that the dispenser provides easy access to the articles. Thus, a carton with a dispenser that constrains remaining articles so that they do not undesirably roll from or otherwise exit the carton when one article is removed is also desirable.
Cartons and dispensers which are aimed at satisfying at least some of these objectives are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,578,736 and 6,478,219, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference. Nevertheless, the cartons and associated dispensers disclosed in each of those patents each suffer from significant drawbacks. Namely, these dispensers are incorporated into box-style cartons, or cartons having squared-off corners. Because the squared-off corners are not supported by the contents of the carton, i.e., a can, the corners often become distorted or disfigured during handling from the beverage packager through the distribution channels to the retail consumer. For example, in transit, a handler typically grasps the carton along one of its corners to move the carton. This disfigurement can cause the carton dispenser, which is usually formed within a corner of the carton, to either prematurely open or improperly operate after being opened by the retail customer. The box-style carton has further drawbacks including prospective hand injury to those handling the carton due to the sharp corners in the carton. Another drawback of the box-style carton having a dispenser is that the articles tend to jostle or move within the package after being placed in the carton and the carton ends sealed due to the added clearance required for easy loading. This jostling or knocking of the articles continues while traveling through the distribution channels and eventually to the retail customer.
A contoured carton that eliminates the squared-off corners is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,656 issued to Hoell et al., assigned to the assignee of this invention, and hereby incorporated by reference. In particular, that patent discloses a carton having arcuate corners that are tightly wrapped around the body of corner cans of the can matrix contained in the carton. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,681 issued to Miller, assigned to the assignee of this invention, and hereby incorporated by reference, a dispenser for a contoured carton is disclosed. In particular, that dispenser is formed from a pair of flaps that are in the side wall panels and aligned with the end portions of a can contained in a lower corner of the carton. The flaps only expose the end portions of the can such that to remove a can, a user slides a finger into one flap and pushes the can toward the opposed flap in the longitudinal direction of the can. The user can then grab the portion of the can sticking out of the opposed side wall.
This type of dispenser, however, does not work well in a limited area, such as a refrigerator. In such an environment, it is desirable to orient the carton to stand on a surface of smaller length, such as a bottom wall as opposed to the larger side wall, to conserve space in the environment. Therefore, a dispenser disposed only in the side walls and requiring the can to move in a direction perpendicular to the side wall would not be readily accessible to the carton's user, and requires extra shelf space in the refrigerator or the like.
There is thus a need for a contoured carton for containing a plurality of articles, such as cans, having a dispenser that is readily accessible to a user when the carton is oriented to rest on its bottom surface.